Florence bathed NC in raw sewage. New figures show it was even worse than we thought.

As Hurricane Florence was soaking the state (of North Carolina) in September, local creeks and rivers were swirling with germs, chemicals, sewage and other filth from sources that are usually stored safely and not a threat to public health.

In some cases these waste-handling facilities took on so much water they experienced structural damage and partially collapsed, disgorging their contents into the flood.

Hearing and reading about those scenarios got Michael Piracci, an Orange County IT worker, wondering about the plight of waste water treatment plants, which process human waste. He was curious about how many experienced failures, the consequences of those malfunctions, and their impact on the environment and on public health.

Shell’s recent success in the US Gulf of Mexico includes its deepwater Dover discovery on Mississippi Canyon 612, reported last year, near its Appomattox platform. The well was drilled by the Deepwater Poseidon ultra-deepwater drillship. Sources: Shell, Transocean.

In lieu of the traditional shovel groundbreaking, Miami City Commission chair Ken Russell, Miami Mayor Francis Suarez and Miami city manager Emilio T. Gonzalez (pictured l-r) perform the ceremonial water toss to mark the start of the first Miami Forever Bond project tackling flooding and sea-level rise. (Photo by City of Miami Office of Communications)